As every respectable mainstream Christian scholar will tell: a proper handling of scripture as well as Apostolic tradition and early church practice all refute the onesness doctrine heresy which began when John G. Scheppe revealed that during his night of meditation it was revealed to him that baptism must be done "in the name of Jesus only" and not "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." He surrounded himself with a few like minded individuals and in 1916 yet another homegrown American cult was born.
At the baptism ofJesus (Matt. 3:16-17), all three members of the Trinity were present together: "As soon as Jesus [Son] was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God [Spirit] descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven [Father] said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'"
Your reasoning Ricke is fallicious in that in constitutes nothing more than wishful thinking. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, or as a dove, and coming or lighting upon him. Christ saw it (Mk 1:10) and John saw it (Jn 1:33, 34), and since it was to be the Christ's public inauguration it is reasonable to assume the bystanders saw it as well.
This is the same Spirit of God that moved upon the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2) and it was foretold in the Old Testament that "the Spirit of the Lord should rest upon him" (Isa. 11:2, 61:1), and here He certainly did.
God the son didn't speak when God the father was speaking because it would have been inappropriate to do so as any communications 101 professor would explain. Trying to use such a thing as "proof" to show that Jesus is not a person but merely a "mouthpiece" as you say, violates various rules of logic and constitutes nothing more than an "imaginary casual connection" by itself and especially in light of the aggregate of scripture.
Furthermore, stating that The sole purpose of The Father creating The Body Jesus ( The son) was to be a one-time only perfect sacrifice for everybody's sins at Calvary" constitutes but a myopic false assertion. The life of the person of Jesus in bodily form accomplished many things including fulfilling OT prophecy and living out a ministry in service that communicated a message which profits authentic Christians to this day... meaning those who don't run after the strange heresy of cult leaders anyways.
What John Scheppe should have been doing besides meditating and the twisting scripture to conform with his meditations was to study God's Word as it is. If he had done that, he would have discovered that prophets always spoke by the Spirit of God who came upon them (unlike cult founders who twist scripture into strange heretical doctrines which contradict not only scripture and logic but also each other) and Christ executed the prophetic office after this point.
Repeating for emphasis: In the baptismal formula (Matt. 28:19) it places all three under one "name" (singular), saying: "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."
Likewise, in an apostolic benediction (e.g., 2 Cor. 13:14), all three names are present together. Paul prayed, "May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ [Son], and the love of God [Father], and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit [Spirit] be with you all."
All of these passages and many more indicate that there are three different and distinct persons who exist simultaneously and eternally and who share one and the same essence or nature. This is in stark contrast to Oneness Doctrine heresy or modalism (sabellianism) heresy.
The early scholars certainly concurred. Origen Adamantius, (c. 185–254 AD) was an early Christian scholar and theologian, and one of the most distinguished writers of the early Christian Church, spoke of the fact that the person of the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that saving baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining them to the unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also of the Holy Spirit. (ibid., 1.2).
It is without a doubt Trinity was present, taught, and practiced in the apostolic and early church and that included baptism.
The benediction of 2 Corinthians 13:14 contains all three members of the Godhead: May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God [the Father], and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."
It's obvious heere that Paul wishes Christians may partake all the benefits which Christ of his free grace and favour has purchased; the Father out of his free love has purposed; and the Holy Ghost applies and bestows." The variety in the order of Persons proves that "in this Trinity none is afore or after other" [Athanasian Creed].
You incorrectly deduce that because Jesus is God that he is not also a person when of course He is both exactly as scripture teaches. Jesus was both God and a person submissive to God the Father's will. He knew that dying on the cross was the only payment His Father could accept for our salvation. He prayed the night of His betrayal by Judas, "O My Father, if it be possible, take this cup of suffering from Me: but LET WHAT YOU WANT BE DONE, NOT WHAT I WANT" (Matthew 26:39). This is a person speaking not an avatar in a computer game God designed.
Jesus was submissive to Mary and Josephy as well. “He continued in subjection to them..." (Luke 2:51). Jesus was a person allright who "learned obedience through the things that He suffered" (Hebrews 5:8)." "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
The cult you attend has turned the person of Jesus into an avatar... the truth into a lie. Shame on them for teaching you that and confusing you about something so instrumental to the apostles, the early church, Christians today, and people everywhere... yeah our worldview.
This is just nonsense right here: "The Holy Ghost is a Spirit... God is a Spirit (John 4 v 24) How many Spirits of God? Again Just ONE,
(Read..I Corinthians 12v 13/ Ephesians 4 v 4) . Where is 3 here?"
Each of us has a spirit and leave our mortal bodies after they die. As we keep sharing with you using scripture, the persons of the Godhead share the same divine essence or nature of God and so are ONE yet three distinct persons. God the Father (2 Pet 1:17) is distinct from God the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:3,4; 2 Cor 3:17) and the Holy Spirit is explicitly called "ANOTHER [Gr allos] Comforter" (John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7ff). God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are distinct Persons in Scripture (Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14; John 14:16; etc...) yet there is only ONE God (Deut 6:4; Mk 12:29; Jn 17:3; 20:28; etc...).
Furthermore, you are misreading John 4:24. The verse should read "God IS Spirit" as it does in all the modern versions (e.g. NKJV). The point is God's NATURE is spirit, is incorporeal, does not have "flesh and bones" (cf. Luke 24:39; Psalm 139). The KJV reading "God is A Spirit" is misleading you. You are interpreting this as "God is ONE Person" when the text is referring to God's nature as spirit.
And the church fathers and mothers certainly dealt with these facts: God is one; Jesus is God; Jesus and the Father are not the same; and the Holy Spirit is also God and he is not the same as either the Father or the Son. That's what they taught and that's what they believed though it wasn't until about a.d. 200 Tertullian first used the word "Trinity" in his writings like the concept of "substitutionary atonement."
The orthodox view of the Trinity posits that there is only one God and yet three different Persons make up that one God. God is not both three and only one in the same sense. In the Godhead there is one What and three Whos. Three persons in one essence is no more a contradiction than are three corners on one triangle or three ones in one to the third power (1 X 1 X l=l). He is only one in nature (essence) but three in a different sense: in Persons.
But then the Oneness Pentecostals (who hold that only Christ is God) discard inerrancy too. The fact is that the Son and the Father are two persons, co-existing eternally in relationship with one another. To deny this fact is to deny the biblical Son, and thus to have a false view of Jesus exactly what we see in Oneness Doctrine.
I'm sorry you were either raised in it or fell prey to it. God loves you and wants you to come into the knowledge of the truth and know Him as He is. Peace and God bless.
